Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Sling

Both of our kids have really loved being carried in a simple fabric sling. We discovered this for E by necessity because we had to keep her skin close to ours for the first several weeks after her premature birth in order to help keep her body temperature up. She was so small in it at first that people would assume that I had a broken arm cradled inside.

When carrying a baby in a sling, at least here in the midwest, I am always surprised by the amount of times people stop me to ask about its use. Most commonly, people either want to know if I like using it or how they can get one, either for themselves or a pregnant friend or family member. I am sometimes startled by the small percentage of people who take the liberty to grab the side of the sling and peer inside at it's contents. The most memorable being when a woman asked, as she was pulling on the fabric, "Is he nursing in there?"

Sometimes people surprise me with some pretty unique inquiries or statements...

"Does he ever fall out?"
"I bet he hates being in there."
"Do they make things like that to carry babies in?" (???)
"I wish I could get in there!"
"When I first saw you, I thought you were pregnant."
"I thought you might have had your dog in there."

Today, a man gingerly approached me in Trader Joe's, asking how the sling worked out for me. He asked if I thought his wife might like one. I quickly rattled off my standard speech of how its nice for shopping and cavorting, as well as getting stuff done around the house when the baby wants nothing to do with sleeping without you near. He smiled pleasantly at me, then said, "Yeah she just had quintuplets. Maybe I should get her one!"

One!??

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